


Day 7: AU

by GemmaRose



Series: Voltron Week [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Galra Keith (Voltron), Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-16
Updated: 2016-08-16
Packaged: 2018-08-09 04:17:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7786438
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GemmaRose/pseuds/GemmaRose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Keith was born lucky, gifted with Sight <i>and</i> elemental fire. But humans don't just <i>get</i> two affinities.</p><p>Crossposted from the <a href="https://voltron-kink.dreamwidth.org/1161.html?thread=121737#cmt121737">Voltron kink meme</a>.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Day 7: AU

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Saj_te_Gyuhyall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saj_te_Gyuhyall/gifts).



“So, you’re saying I’m not all the way human?” Keith frowned, arms crossed over his chest.

Allura nodded. “The cryo-pod read two distinct DNA sequences in you. One human, one, well...”

“One what?” Keith leaned forward, fingers curling against the sleeves of his jacket.

“Galran.” Allura said quietly. Every muscle in Keith’s body tensed, fingers tightening like claws in the red fabric. “I haven’t told the others.” Allura said quickly. “This is your heritage, you should be the one to tell them. I understand if you’ve been hiding it from us, but-”

“I didn’t know.” Keith said, shoulders stiff and squared. “You think I-”

“It’s okay.” Allura placed a hand on his shoulder, her other hand tracing glowing runes in the air. “You didn’t know, and that’s okay.” she patted his cheek gently, and finished up the small runic circle she’d been drawing. A small device flew into her hand, and she flipped it open like an old-style cell phone. “Keith is awake.” she said, and it echoed over the castle’s speakers.

“Altean magic is different from human magic, right?” Keith asked after a quiet moment, looking at the hem of Allura’s dress.

“Drastically so.” Allura nodded.

“So, what’s galran magic like?” Keith glanced up, and was surprised to see Allura beaming.

“I’m so glad you asked!” she clapped her hands together. “Galran magic is fascinating. It’s divided into two houses, common and elemental. The elemental house requires something much like your human affinity, you have to be born with it, but all galra are capable of common magic.”

“Is one of those elements... fire?” Keith asked hesitantly. If that was the case, then it would explain so much.

“Oh, yes.” Allura nodded once, brisk and businesslike. “It was considered a performance art before the war, since it’s entirely controlled with gestures.”

Keith twisted his hand, and a flick of the wrist brought tiny flames to life just above the tips of his fingers. It wasn’t like any magic he’d learnt in school, but it felt natural all the same. If he was half galran, and galran fire magic was controlled by motions…

“I still don’t get how you can have two affinities.” Lance griped. walking over from the door and punching Keith in the arm. “I mean, you get Sight and elemental fire and I’m stuck with animal? It’s just not fair!”

“It’s called being born lucky.” Pidge said with a wry smile, walking into the room with Hunk on their tail.

“Shiro’s helping Coran out of the vents. He said they’ll be here in a minute.” Hunk supplied.

“How did-?”

“You don’t want to know.” the Yellow and Green Paladins shook their heads in unison.

But hey, mullet head.” Lance elbowed Keith in the side. “How you feeling?”

“Better.” Keith rubbed at his jacket over the thin scar which traced over his shoulder from back to front, the only remnant of the wound that had put him in the cryo-pod in the first place.

“I re-did the wards on your flight suit.” Hunk said, shifting from foot to foot. “They’re still not perfect, since I had to build on the existing Altean magic, but-”

“Hunk, it’s fine.” Keith managed a small smile. “Wards are your thing, right? I’m sure you did a great job. I can take a look later, if you want me to check for holes or something.”

“I’ve been wondering.” Pidge tilted their head slightly. “Can you See altean magic the way you can human magic?”

“A little.” Keith lifted a hand to tilt it in the air. “I can see where the runes were drawn, not what they affected.”

“Huh.” Pidge swirled their hand, and a star map flickered to life over their palm. “Anyway, here’s where you got knocked out,” they pointed at a miniscule solar system. “And here’s where we are now.” they dragged their finger through the projection to a new point, a fair distance from anything.

“Have you always been able to do that?” Hunk leaned over Pidge’s shoulder.

“Nope. Came up with it last week.” Pidge grinned. “They key,” they flicked their hand up, like tossing a ball in the air, and the projection expanded to show a _lot_ more stars. “Is to let the magic read the stars. Otherwise you have to be consciously aware of all this, and that’s just too much data for a human brain to handle.”

“Amazing!” Coran exclaimed from just inside the door, poking at a solar system. “Are you doing this, Pidge?”

“Yeah, it’s-”

“Celestial magic.” Shiro said, lifting a hand and swiping it through a gently undulating nebula. “Pretty high level, too.” he looked at Pidge with a small smile. “Your father did always say you were a prodigy.”

Pidge blushed, and the projection flickered out as they lowered their hand.

“I have something to say.” Keith said, straightening up and squaring his shoulders. All eyes were immediately on him, and he Saw a brief flash of- well, not outright hatred so that was good. “While I was in the cryo-pod, Allura saw something weird in my readings. Apparently, I’m not fully human.”

“Really?” Pidge leaned forward a little. “You look human.”

“And you look twelve.” Lance rolled his eyes.

“That good to know.” Shiro nodded once. “Thank you for sharing that, Keith.”

“What type of alien?” Hunk asked, looking curious but not wary. Why would he be wary? Pidge had just said it, Keith didn’t _look_ half galran. But this wasn’t going to end in catastrophe, so it’d be best if he just got it over with.

“Galra.”

Shiro’s eyes widened, but other than that he didn’t outwardly react at all. Lance, on the other hand, was far more expressive.

“Bullshit! You’re not purple and fluffy, so you can’t be galra.”

“I thought the galra had never been to Earth before that ship we blew up, though?” Hunk said, face scrunched in confusion.

“Actually.” Allura cleared her throat, effortlessly commanding the room’s attention. “Juvenile galra lack, as you put it, ‘fluff’. Half-galran children typically take after their maternal side in terms of appearance, and once they reach maturity they start to take on galran characteristics.”

“Wait, so you mean Keith is gonna turn purple and fluffy?” Lance was grinning that shit-eating grin Keith had Seen in his brief flash of foresight. “I hope Hunk’s not allergic.” 

“Lance, come on.” Hunk frowned.

“So, do you have galran magic?” Pidge asked, looking more curious than anything else.

“Just a bit.” Keith conjured a small flame, and tossed it between his hands as it slowly grew.

“Fitting.” Coran nodded.

“That’s just not fair.” Lance crossed his arms. Shiro sighed.

“Thank you for sharing this with us.” the Black Paladin grinned tensely.

“Alright.” Allura clapped her hands, once again drawing all attention to herself. Keith glimpsed the light of runes lingering in the air in front of her, and briefly wondered if she’d used magic to make them pay attention. “All of you are alert and in good health, so I want you to suit up and report to the training room.”

Keith glanced over his shoulder as he left the room, and Allura gave him a thumbs up. Keith wondered if the castle had any information about how to learn galran fire magic.

**Author's Note:**

> Shiro, for those curious, has an affinity for shadow magic. He's a high enough level that he can use reversal spells to create light, but he doesn't like using his magic because it was his most effective weapon as Champion and now has a lot of negative memories tied to it. Also, Balmerans have Avatar-style bending, because why the hell not.


End file.
